A medical staff member introduces eye's structure and cause of myopia in Donglin primary school in Donglin Township of Huzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Septemper 4, 2018. Classes are being taken to popularize the knowledge of protecting eyes as China aims at curbing the rise in nearsightedness-or myopia-among children and teenagers. Photo: Xinhua

Myopia remains pervasive in East China's Jiangsu Province, where nearly 80 percent of middle school students and 90 percent of high school students are nearsighted. 

Almost 70 percent of students in Jiangsu are myopic, which is 6.9 percent lower than that at the end of 2015, according to a report released by the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education on Wednesday.

The report is based on a provincial survey that covers 25 indicators of students, including body shape, physiology, physical fitness and health status, The Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

It covers 39,355 students from 80 primary and secondary schools as well as eight colleges in Jiangsu, aged from 7 to 22, said The Beijing News.

Jiangsu is not the only case of a high myopia rate. China's National Health Commission said in April that 53.6 percent of Chinese children and teenagers suffer from myopia. 

Many places have taken action to deal with the problem. Shandong, another province in East China where the myopia rate among teenagers was nearly 59 percent as of March, reportedly issued a policy to stop related officials from getting promoted within half a year if they fail to lower the myopia rate of children and teenagers in the province by more than 0.5 percentage points per year by 2023.

Typical modern habits may be a major factor behind the rise in myopia. These include lack of outdoor activity, long hours of screen time, low levels of sunlight exposure and too many tasks that involve reading.

China's Ministry of Education released a notice, announcing a crackdown on online gaming, citing rising levels of myopia, on August 30, 2018. The move was aimed at limiting the number of new online video games and restricting the time youngsters spend playing games.